Hi,
I'm new to CircuitWorks and I'm trying to export a board outline from CircuitWorks. I tried to export as an IDF 2.0 & 3.0, but when the board is brought into PADS, the outline is not correct. The Mentor Pads people insists that it's a CircuitWorks problem. Any suggestions?
an IDF file is a text file, so you can check it by opening in a text editor
here is the format to look for:
.board_outline ecad
board thickness ( a number in the units you have selected)
1st coordinates
2nd coordinates
3rd coordinates
4th coordinates...
...last cordinate
.end_board_outline
it is simply a vector file, so you will have 1 more coordinate line than you have edges to the board
the 1st & last coordinate lines should read the same
you can check to see if the file is being written correctly from CircuitWorks by comparing the board in SW to the IDF file
click on the lower left corner of the board in SW
look at the cordinates, they should be exactly the same as IDF file and as previously stated they will be the first and last coordinate lines
now repeat for each corner of the board in SW, they should match the IDF file
more info on what exactly is wrong would give a better clue what to look for
SolidWorks, CircuitWorks, & PADS play very well together
I agree with Mentor, if the board outline is wrong, something is wrong in CircuitWorks, assuming it is correct in SW
I've attached a couple of screen shots to show what's happening. The board outline is named Board_outline. The holes come in, but the outline in screwed up.
One thing I just found out, if I make the board outline a complete circle, it comes in correctly. That would be ok if our board was a complete circle.
I was under the impression the units in the IDF file will be read correctly because the units are indicated in the IDF file
but check to make sure units are the same in PADS & CircuitWorks, maybe that isn't being interpreted correctly
keep in mind PADS allows mils or inches
I am assuming the board outline in the top is what is coming in wrong, looks like it is wrong scale and perhaps offset
BTW, I have not had problems with arcs when they are half or quarter arcs, but I thought someone had problems with a circular board before, perhaps a search of previous threads may help
We use Orcad, so I tried exporting a similar board outline from SW to Circuitworks to Orcad using IDF2, this worked OK.
Is your SW sketch an arc or a spline?, I have found that splines can sometimes cause problems.
Thanks for the replies.
I changed my sketch and added a small radius where the arc intersects with the flat and that solved the problem.
What are you calling your board outline in solidworks? It should be named board_outline. When you say it is not correct what exactly is wrong with the outline.
Harry Stone